admin
Dear Garikai Mazara,
I was saddened to read your article and for most of the day, could not understand the motive behind it until I checked who had submitted articles for the Arts and Entertainment category in the National Journalism and Media Awards, NJAMA.Then everything fell into place. There were entries from media organisations from around the country and one of the entries was by Garikai Mazara, the author of the said article.
Having said that, I believe if you wanted to give us a “passionate” analysis about the awards, as you claimed, you could have indicated in the article that you were an interested party and had submitted entries but had not been nominated.
This would have helped people decide on whether to take it seriously or not. I need not point out that in this case you abused your privilege as a journalist to attack the union by not revealing your vested interests.
I am sorry to say but such unbridled behaviour is what has led to calls for journalists to be strictly regulated — yours is a perfect example.
Having unmasked the reasons behind the vituperative attacks, let me now deal with other issues that you mention. You open your account by stating that it is wrong to be defensive in an article, but we now understand why you were being defensive from the introduction, this was an angry reaction, not a professional and passionate piece as you would want us to believe.
You state that writing the article was driven by passion and not malice.
Really?
Then I can sneeze with my eyes wide open Sir. You argue that you are not driven by sour grapes. If the nominees are unacceptable to you, are we to assume that only you would have been acceptable.
If you had been nominated, the list of nominees would have “been a reflection of Zimbabwe’s top journalism”.
I refer you to a word called narcissism, which loosely translated means excessive interest in or admiration of oneself and one’s physical appearance.
Along the line you try to ride on the coattails of Geoff Nyarota to lend credence to an article which you admit might sound hollow to some.
You can add shallow, unprofessional, deceitful and turgid to describe that article. Sometime ago, I read an article in which you chronicled your 20-year journey in journalism .
The article had a generous dosage of pictures of yourself and different celebrities and I was happy for you and your achievements.
I thought that meant you were among those who would now be mentoring young journalists.
I just don’t get it when you throw your toys out of the pram if young journalists are nominated ahead of you. You should encourage them for the good work even if they are your juniors.
What I find as a solace is that the competition for the awards can get very emotional, an indication of how the awards are now valued. We just call for professional engagement.
We find it odd that you use the opportunity to harangue our sponsors, who in a very difficult economic environment, have decided to invest in the improvement and development of journalism.
Your attitude is that of a person who upon hearing that a snake has entered a house suggests that the house be set on fire instead of coming up with a better solution.
For your information, the awards serve as a timely reminder throughout the year for journalists in order to be ethical and professional, including writing or broadcasting informative information for the development of the country.
In terms of welfare improvement, some journalists have bought vehicles, residential stands and built houses while others have started small businesses from NJAMA proceeds.
In the social responsibility area, we have donated sanitary wear for female prisoners, painted and refurbished two orphanages.
In one instance, an orphanage received a volleyball, soccer and netball sets of uniforms for their boys and girls teams.
We accept suggestions on how best we can improve the competition, and you are free to do so anytime. These will be done after the event as doing so now would be against the efforts of multitudes of journalists and our sponsors who seriously want to develop the media.
I was drawn to your wish that those who will be crowned on Friday, will be comfortable and celebrate for the whole year.
I also hope you celebrate for the rest of the year that children of deceased journalists whose school fees were paid by NJAMA-related proceeds now face an uncertain future after your bull in a china shop recklessness.
Foster Dongozi,
Secretary General — Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, ZUJ
Online Reporter